What’s Next for Rushkoff?

First, some interesting stuff about the book, Nothing Sacred, at Zeek magazine. (Although one of the two reviewers, in an effort to critique my “scholarship,” claims I’ve written that the Orthodox movement grew out of the holocaust, which I don’t say. On page 73 I explain how it was a reaction to German reforms of the 1800’s.)

As for me, professionally and creatively, I’m moving “beyond” Judaism – at least explicitly – and back into some fictional and non-fiction considerations of what we might call ‘open source reality.’ (No, I won’t actually be using that term.)

The first project is a graphic novel version of the comic I was writing for BPM magazine, called ClubZeroG. It’s about some kids who realize they’ve all been dreaming the same dream together, and come to learn it may be more real than what they’re living.

The second is a book based on a talk I’ve been doing for the past 5 years called “Follow the Fun.” I’m still in early stages, but – most basically – it’s about finding better ways of motivating ourselves to do good things. We’re too dependent in this society on the very bottom level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: we use survival fears to propel us, even if our survival as individuals is not in question. I’ve been proposing that this defensive crouch is a great motivator for those who need it, but has limited value to those who have moved beyond it and might be able to apply their effort to helping others (networking). And this latter strategy will actually yield greater ‘success,’ especially as our definition of success evolves beyond acquisition. (But don’t tell the Ferengis this.)

Douglas Rushkoff is the author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity, as well as a dozen other bestselling books on media, technology, and culture, including Present Shock, Program or Be Programmed, Media Virus, Life Inc and the novel Ecstasy Club. He is Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY/Queens. He wrote the graphic novels Aleister & Adolf, Testament, and A.D.D., and made the television documentaries Generation Like, Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders, and Digital Nation. He lives in New York, and lectures about media, society, and economics around the world.